Portable fruit-gathering platform.



PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

W.- V. BROWN. PORTABLE FRUIT GATHERING PLATFORM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1904.

Z. W 13.7"01077 Inventor,

Attorneys UNITED A STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM V. BROWN, BERWIUK, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO DANIEL M. OWEN, OF LUNENBURG, NOVA SOOIIA, CANADA.

PORTABLE FRUIT-GATHERING PLATFORM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,883, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed June 22, 1904. Serial No. 213,650. I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM V. BROWN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Berwick, county of Kings, in the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Fruit-Gathering Platforms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in portable fruit-picking platformsandladders; and itconsistsin certain fea tures of novelty whereby the platform and ladder are mounted upon a portable truck and so arranged as to be firmly supported when resting upon the ground and provided with guiding-handles by means of which it may be lifted to throw the weight upon the carryingwheel.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the character described which will support a ladder in position beneath or in proximity to fruit-trees, &c., which will afford ample area for the person picking fruit from such trees, and means for adjusting and supporting a ladder adapted to cooperate with such platform for the purpose described.

Referring to the parts in the drawing, 1 1 are supporting-posts, one of which is provided at each corner of the platform-frame. 2 represents transverse timbers connected with the corner-posts, and 3 represents connecting timbers cooperating with the other members to form a frame at the lower portion of the apparatus. Projected through the transverselyextending timbers 2 are handles 4, which extend at one end-the near end, as showna sufficient distance from the timber 2 to permit of a person standing between the said handles for the purpose of lifting and guiding the apparatus thereby, while the opposite end of the handles 4 extends a sufficient distance beyond the other timber 2 to permit the supporting-wheel 5 being locked in position, as shown, the said Wheel being carried upon the spindle 6, which is projected through the members 4:.

Supported by the standards 1 and the frame members 7 8 9 is a platform 10, which platform is connected to such members in anydesirable manner, so as to provide a rigid sup port for a person wishing to use the apparatus for picking fruit from a tree. The platform 10 is cut away, as shown in the drawing, and within this cutout portion is supported a fixed laddewsection 11, which rests upon the base-board 12, which base-board is carried by the timbers 3, as shown. Forwardly of theladder-section 11 the platform 10 is provided with recesses 12 at each side of the opening therein, and slidably mounted in these recesses is a ladder-section 13, to which is hinged a laddersection 14 by means of the hinges 15, so that the ladder-section 14; may fold down upon the section 13. It will be noted that the width of the ladder-section 14 is less than the width of the section 13, so said section 14 may pass between the edges 16 of the platform-opening before referred to. In the rear face of the uprights of the ladder-sections 13 and 14: notches 17 are provided at convenient intervals, and cooperating with such notches is a hinged plate 18, which is hinged at 19 to the platform 10 and is adapted to interlock with the notches 17 for the purpose of-supporting the slidable ladder-sections in position. The ladder-sections 13 and 14 may be connected in any desirable manner-as, for instance, by means of a slidable bolt or the hook 20. (Illustrated in the drawing.)

In use the device is carried upon the wheel 5 to any desired point and permitted to rest upon the standards 1, whereupon the slidable ladders are raised to the proper elevation, and the person may mount the ladder-section 11 from the platform 12 to the platform 10 or may pass upwardly of the ladder-sections 13 and 1 1 with perfect safety, the ladders being supported by means of the hinged plate 18, as before described, and when it is desired to move the apparatus from place to place the handles 4 may be used to lift the handle end of the apparatus, thereby throwing the weight upon the wheel 5, by means of which it may be transported from place to place.

While I have shown in the accompanying drawing the preferred form of my invention, it will be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise form shown, for many of the details may be changed in form or position without affecting the operativeness or utility of my invention, and I therefore reserve the right to make all such modifications as are included within the scope of the following claims or of mechanical equivalents to the structures set forth.

Having described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a fruit-picking platform, the combination comprising a plurality of supportinglegs, transverse connecting members, guiding-handle members connected with said transverse members, a supporting-wheel connected between said handle members, a platform at the upper ends of said legs, a ladder slidable in an opening in said platform, said ladder being provided with notches, and a hinged plate on said platform adapted to engage with said notches.

2. In a fruit-picking platform, the combination comprising a plurality of supportinglegs, transverse connecting members, guiding-handle members connected with said transverse members, a supporting-Wheel connected WILLIAM V. BROWVN.

WVitnesses:

ERMIE RAINFORTH, AGNES BROWN. 

